Climate change: a conflict driver? : A study seeking to understand how state actors in the Arctic Region perceive central aspects of the Environmental Conflict lens.

Abstract: With parallel increases in both climate change effects and heightening tension between state actors within the Arctic Region, a detrimental outcome is possible if not properly understood. Handling such intricate relationship between climate change, its impacts on human society and conflicts, the Environmental Conflict lens offers a useful perspective that identifies structural conditions and behavioural mechanisms created by climate change, as drivers of conflict. However, a lack within the theoretical understanding of knowing if theorised tenants are present within the perception of actors experiencing empirical reality, does present a problem. Therefore, this research wished to answer how state actors within the Arctic Region describe the theorised structural conditions and behavioural mechanism argued to drive conflict from an Environmental Conflict lens. The study conducted a Qualitative Content Analysis to gain this understanding, focusing on the state actors respective Artic Policy/Strategy, which represented their respective perception. The research was able to identify several instances of the theoretical concepts within each case and to gain an understanding of the state actors’ description derived from the data analysis. The insights gained by the study, call for further theoretical development of Environmental Conflict lens and more proactive research engagements with the Arctic Region.